Life in Ancient India as Depicted in the Jain Canons, with Commentaries: An Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey c8.t2.1

c8.t2.1

The elephant had an honourable place in the army and on other royal occasions. The elephant was considered so important in the Mauryan period that the killing of an elephant was visited even with capital punishment.⁵ The *Uttarādhyayana* refers to an elephant of sixty years (satthihāyana),⁶ which shows that it was a long-lived animal. The Thāṇāṅga mentions four varieties of elephants, viz., bhadda, manda, miya and saṅkinna. They are classified according to their seasonal uses, physical strength, sharp or slow intelligence and their ability to lead attacks, etc.⁷ The kings were very fond of elephants; and the state-elephants bore special names. We hear of the elephant Secanaka over which a great battle was fought between Kūṇika and Halla and Vihalla. It is said that this elephant was born in a hermitage and used to water the groves with its trunk in the company of the ascetic princes and hence its appellation Secanaka (Sprinkler). When this elephant grew up, it killed the leader of the herd and destroyed the hermitage. The ascetics were angry with the elephant and handed it over to king Seniya of Rāyagiha.⁸ Later on, it is said that once Secanaka went to a river where he was caught by a crocodile. A merchant's son rescued it whereupon Seṇiya was so much pleased with him that he gave him his daughter in marriage.⁹ Another battle is recorded which took place between Nami and Caṇḍajasa over an elephant.¹⁰ The Bhagavatī refers to two other elephants of Kūṇika, viz., Udāyin and Bhuṭānanda.¹¹ Nalagiri was another elephant which belonged to Pajjoya and was considered one of his four precious possessions.¹² Bhadravatī belonged to Udayana, who successfully carried off Vāsavadattā on its back from Ujjenī to Kosambī.¹³ Vijaya Gandhahatthi¹⁴ was an elephant of Kaṇha Vāsudeva.¹⁵